Bangladesh calls back High Commissioner to Pakistan

A Pakistani diplomat was asked to go back after Bangladesh accused her of having terrorist links.

Another secular blogger killed in Bangladesh Picture: A man holds up the national flag as protesters block a street before they try to surround and block access to the High Commission of Pakistan in Dhaka Dec. 18, 2013. [Representational Image]Reuters

Increased tensions between Bangladesh and Pakistan has led to the former to direct its High Commissioner to Pakistan to return with haste.

"Yes, the High Commissioner has been asked to return home in quickest possible time," PTI quoted a Foreign Ministry official as saying in Dhaka. The official added that High Commissioner Suhrab Hossain's contract was about to expire.

The recall comes in the wake of a Pakistani diplomat being asked to go back after Bangladesh accused her of having terrorist links, reports The Hindu.

Second Secretary in the Pakistan High Commission Fareena Arshad in Bangladesh was asked to return after a confession from a Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh member that she had links to the militant group.

This was the second incident of a Pakistani diplomat being accused of having militant connections. Mazhar Khan, a diplomatic official, was accused of being involved in a fake Indian currency racket and having links to militants in February 2015, following which he returned to Pakistan.

Islamabad had rebutted the accusations against Khan and Arshad, though both returned home.

The 1971 war crimes trials in Bangladesh have also contributed to strained relations between the two Islamic countries.

In November, top war crime convicts Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed were executed for the atrocities perpetrated during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

In 2013, Jamaat leader Abdul Quader Molla was executed by Bangladesh, following which Pakistan had passed a resolution in its parliament. Bangladesh had criticised Pakistan saying the resolution was unwarranted since the execution was a domestic matter, reported Dawn.